This page is a resource for Tournament Directors (TDs). In partnership with WPR, the USPA now uses Clubspark tournament management software (TMS) for draws, schedules and scores. The software will improve the experience for players, clubs, and TDs. TDs are responsible for learning the software and managing all aspects of their tournaments. WPR will support TDs in this process. 

The WPR website will continue to be used for players to enter and pay for tournaments. All entry fees for entries made prior to a tournament’s entry deadline will be paid to the club directly from WPR the week after the tournament. 

In summary, a two-part system: i) WPR for entries & payment → ii) Clubspark TMS for draws, schedules and scores (+ late entries & payment, if any).

TDs should log into and learn the Clubspark TMS at least 8 weeks prior to their tournament. If you have not yet accessed your club’s TMS account, please contact tduspa@worldpadelrating.com / eric@worldpadelrating.com to be added as an “Admin” and receive an invitation link. To log in, TDs must use their USPA / WPR account email. The username and password for your USPA, WPR, and Clubspark accounts are the same. If you are having issues with your USPA or WPR login, you can do a password reset here. It is recommended to bookmark your club’s TMS – the URL is typically uspa.worldpadelrating.com/yourclubname/Admin. (While logging in, please add your Stripe account to the TMS, as this will likely be the easiest way to request, collect & record payment of late entries you choose to accept, if any.) It is recommended to use the TMS via a Google Chrome browser and via a computer rather than a phone.

*Reminder re Stripe: Various KYC (Know Your Customer) information must be provided for the account to be fully-functional “Approved”, not “Restricted”; the information required can be found via the blue “Manage on Stripe” button on the Payment Settings page in the TMS, via your Stripe Express dashboard, or via emails requesting this information when you first link your Stripe account in the TMS. Please ensure information entered in the TMS, associated with the Stripe account, and associated with the bank account where the funds are deposited all match – e.g. email address, company name, etc. )

To ensure a successful tournament, the following steps must occur:

1. Calendar: TDs should check that their tournament is on the USPA Calendar.
2. Flyers: TDs should create their tournament flyers using these guidelines and email the completed flyers to info@padelusa.org.  (*Tournament Cancellation Policy: To maintain the integrity of the national calendar and ensure quality events, tournaments will be automatically cancelled three (3) weeks prior to the scheduled date if the host club has not submitted their entry fee and tournament flyer. Multiple reminder emails are sent beginning 90 days out. We encourage clubs to stay responsive and submit all required materials on time to avoid removal from the calendar.)
3. Entries open: Once the flyers are approved, the USPA will contact WPR to create the tournament on the WPR website. Once the tournament is created, WPR will share the tournament’s registration page link with the TD and the USPA. (The page can also be found via USPA Calendar and via the WPR website’s tournaments listing.) This process should be completed at least eight weeks before the tournament. Then, players can enter the tournament. (*Note: TDs do not create the tournament in the TMS; USPA/WPR does.)
4. Entries open: TDs should encourage all players to enter on the tournament’s registration page prior to the entry deadline. All players need a WPR profile, whether that is to enter themselves or to be entered as someone’s partner. If a player cannot enter on their own, a TD may choose to assist with the entry. WPR cannot assist in manually entering players. USPA 100s only require a free USPA account while USPA 250s+ require a paid USPA membership; the registration page will guide players to get the appropriate credentials if they do not have them.
5. Entry deadlines:
   • USPA 100 & Age Group Local tournaments: Monday 8pm ET, the week of the tournament. No late entries accepted (zero tolerance). 
   •  
   • All other USPA tournaments: Thursday 12pm (noon) local time, the week before the tournament (advertised publicly). However, registration will remain open until Friday 10am ET.
   • At this stage, WPR will share the Entry List with the TD and the USPA. This list contains all the teams entered, their payment status, and the division selected. (*Note: Please do not use the Clubspark TMS for monitoring entries prior to this stage; please use the tournament’s registration page on the WPR website. Entries sync into the Clubspark TMS only once registration on the WPR website closes.)
6. Entry List review (mandatory Office Hours meeting with WPR Support Team):
   • USPA 100 & Age Group Local tournaments: Tuesday 11am ET, the week of the tournament.
   • All other USPA tournaments: Friday 2pm ET, the week before the tournament.  
   • TDs should complete a review of the following 6 checklist items (*note: ‘iv’ is n/a for USPA 100 & Age Group Local tournaments):

(i) If there are any pre-registered (i.e. “UNPAID”) team(s) on the Entry List, contact them to confirm whether they are in or out. If confirmation isn’t received, they are to be considered unregistered and not included in the draw. (If the team(s) will play, you are responsible for payment collection – the “payment request” in the TMS is a payment option.) 

(ii) All players have entered in appropriate divisions with the correct partners. 

(For changes: please cut-and-paste the two rows representing a doubles team into their new division in the same two-row style grouped with their division (i.e. all D1 teams should be listed next to each other, D2, etc.) The TD is advised to notify players affected by changes, if any.)
iii) Total entries do not exceed what a club can accommodate. 

(If exceed, notify the USPA, whose rules for draws will determine which teams qualify to play, and WPR to assist with refunding unselected teams.)
iv) Any late entries (see “*Note re: Late entries” below), if accepted at the TD’s discretion, are included. Late entries require significant work by the TD.

(v) The required draw formatting is noted in the Entry List. 

(Formats summary: Round robin if 7 or fewer teams; 2 groups with a 1st Place Playoff (3rd & 5th Place Playoffs optional at TD’s discretion) if 6-7 teams; 1 group with no playoff if 5 or fewer teams; no semifinals in round robins; First match loser consolation draw format if 8+ teams. USPA 100 & Age Group Local have more flexibility on format at TD’s discretion – please check with the USPA beforehand.)

vi) Email reply-all to WPR & USPA to confirm when the above checklist is complete and thus Entry List is finalized, in order for the USPA to review all players’ points for seeding.

7. Seeding: Once the USPA receives the TD’s reply-all email, the USPA will confirm points for assigning seeds, updating the Entry List with these denoted to the TD. Seeding criteria is USPA circuit ranking points followed by verified WPR player ratings; seeds are not arbitrarily assigned and are not to be changed by the TD. (3-5 teams = 0 seeds, 6-11 teams = 2 seeds, 12-23 teams = 4 seeds, 24-64 teams = 8 seeds.) Once the USPA has completed seedings on the Entry List, the TD can create the draws & schedule.

8. Draws & schedule (mandatory Office Hours meeting with WPR Support Team):

• USPA 100 & Age Group Local tournaments: Tuesday 11am ET, the week of the tournament.
• All other USPA tournaments: Monday 10am ET, the week of the tournament.  

The following is click-by-click instructions for the TD to create the draws & schedule: The first step to do so is to, in the TMS’s Admin Desk (i.e. uspa.worldpadelrating.com/yourclubname/Admin), click on “Tournaments” → click on the relevant active tournament → click on “Players” → “Player selections” and finalize selections for each event (i.e. Men’s Doubles, Women’s Doubles pages – see blue text on drop down menu) then also finalize overall (i.e. “All events” page – see blue text on drop down menu). Doing so unlocks the “Launch Tournament Desk” button (top right). Then, draws & schedule are created in the Tournament Desk. To create draws: First, in the Events tab, add *all* participants into a draw you title “Interim draft”. Then, for each division draw: i) click “Manage draws” → “Add draw”, ii) “Add participants” (select the teams in that division), iii) assign seeds (expand the horizontal navy Participants ribbon, click “Manual Seeding”, enter seeds in the box next to the relevant players, click Save, iv) scroll down to click “Make Draw” button (select the appropriate draw format, score format, etc. in the popup – for example, first match consolation, round robin, or round robin with playoff (use “Group position”, not “Top finisher”, for these); unfortunately draws must be remade if the wrong draw type is selected, as it is not possible to append playoff matches after the fact, so please ensure you select the correct draw format.) Then, once all divisions’ draws are done, click “Manage draws” → “Delete draws” for your men’s & women’s “Interim draft” draws. And proceed to scheduling: You can choose either Manual or Auto scheduling. Manual = curate on a separate spreadsheet/notepad then enter the times into the TMS. Auto = set parameters in “Match settings” (i.e. estimated match length, minimum player rest time) and “Manage facilities” (i.e. # of courts and their hours of availability). If you use Auto, it is recommended to review what it generates closely; you can make adjustments match by match. Please remember when scheduling to include minimum rest time for players – generally 90 minutes (search “rest” in USPA rulebook for details), and to adhere to “matches per day” maximums (“two main draw matches per day in USPA 2000, 1000 and 500. In USPA 250 and 100, or where main draw matches utilize a 3rd set tiebreaker, three matches may be scheduled in one day”). (*Reminder re scheduling of consolation matches for ‘First match loser consolation’ format draws in divisions where there are main draws with byes: The team with a main draw bye (often a seed) may (if they lose) or may not (if they win) slot into the consolation draw. The TMS creates a match to be scheduled by you per the former. If the latter, upon score entry for the relevant main draw match, this consolation match’s scheduled time is automatically erased and the awaiting team given a bye through to the next consolation round. TDs should keep in mind in these scenarios: i) to communicate to awaiting teams that their consolation match time depends on the outcome of a main draw match, ii) that the outcome of the main draw match may create gaps of unused court time in your schedule if a consolation match becomes n/a.) (*Reminder re scheduling of consolation matches for ‘First match loser consolation’ format draws re Walkovers in main draw: The TMS creates an extra round which may seem to be a set of duplicate matches, but is not — it exists for the rare chance of the scenario that a team wins their first match in the main draw by Walkover then loses their second match in the main draw. Technically, the Walkover counts as a match played, but it is preferred that the team in this scenario is allowed the opportunity to slot into the consolation draw (TD’s discretion), and the TMS is setup as such. TD’s should: schedule the matches of the consolation round where two teams are first slotting in (see line denotation e.g. “1-2”, “3-4”), communicate to players how to interpret the consolation draw, generally feel comfortable taking the risk of not scheduling these Walkover scenario consolation matches.)

9. Publishing deadline:

TDs must publish the draws & schedule by the following times or earlier, and inform tduspa@worldpadelrating.com when they are complete. (To do so, click both the green “Publish order of play” button on the Schedule tab and the green “Publish” button on the Events tab.)

• USPA 100 & Age Group Local tournaments: Tuesday 2pm ET, the week of the tournament.
• All other USPA tournaments: Monday 2pm ET, the week of the tournament.  

Clubs that do not publish draws & schedule by Tuesday 2pm ET (for USPA 100 & Age Group Local tournaments) / Monday 2pm ET (for all other USPA tournaments) risk the cancellation of future tournaments by the USPA. 

10. Score entry:

TDs use the TMS for in-tournament management – scores automatically populate on the public draws when entered in the draws within the TMS’s Tournament Desk. (Enter the loser’s score first for each set. The system auto-populates the winner’s – e.g. if the score of a match is 6-3, 6-7 (4), 10-5, enter “3”, “6”, “4”, “5”, then Save. Enter a Walkover result as that by clicking the “…” button; do not enter a Walkover as 6-0, 6-0.)

*Note re: Late entries: Late entries require significant work by the TD, which is automatic for on-time entries. For late entries, TDs must:

1. manually enter (step-by-step instructions here) the team in both the Entry List file and the Clubspark TMS. 
2. For you to enter a player in the Entry List file, please type in their doubles team in the same two-row style grouped with their division as existing entries (i.e. all D1 teams should be listed next to each other, D2, etc.). Only name & WPR profile/USPA membership status are required. You do not need to enter additional information like contact info, player ID, rating, etc. unless they have a common name and you foresee this being helpful for identification.
3. For you to enter a player in the TMS, in the TMS’s Admin Desk (i.e. uspa.worldpadelrating.com/yourclubname/Admin), click on “Tournaments” → click on the relevant active tournament → click on “Players” → click on the “All events” blue text dropdown → click on the appropriate event (e.g. Men’s Doubles) → click on the blue “Add players” button. Important: If a player does not appear in the “Add player” search results, it is likely because they must complete the USPA/WPR profile login → click → click sync here: https://uspa.worldpadelrating.com/Account/SignIn; then they should appear in search results to be able to be added. Then, late entry players will appear in the “Player selections” tab on the right-hand side as Unselected & Unpaired. Click “Add doubles team” to pair late entry players together into teams, then select & move them into the Main Draw (they should then appear on the left-hand side).

The absolute deadline for late entries for USPA250+ tournaments is Sunday (no late entries permitted for USPA 100 & Age Group Local), so the USPA can review them for seeding with ample time for you to publish draws & schedules by Monday 2pm ET at the very latest. 

1. check and follow-up that a player has both a WPR profile and USPA free account (for USPA 100) or paid membership (for USPA 250+), and note this in the appropriate column in the Entry List. Do not assume that a player has a WPR profile and USPA account/membership.
2. collect payment. You are welcome to collect in the club. Payment requests can also be easily made in the TMS. (To do so, in the Admin Desk, click on “Players” to see the list of all players in your tournament → click on a desired player’s name → click the “Request payment” button on the right-hand side, which sends an email request with payment link to the player. Please note that a Stripe account must be linked to a club’s TMS prior to sending payment requests in order to properly receive payment via this method.) 

Clubs that do not publish draws & schedule by Tuesday 2pm ET (for USPA 100 & Age Group Local tournaments) / Monday 2pm ET (for all other USPA tournaments) risk the cancellation of future tournaments by the USPA. 

Office Hours meetings – WPR runs Office Hours for:

• USPA 100 & Age Group Local tournaments: 

• Tuesday 11am ET, the week of the tournament, covering Entry List, Draws & Schedule.

• All other USPA tournaments: 

• Friday 2pm ET, the week before the tournament, covering Entry List

• Monday 10am ET, the week of the tournament, covering Draws & Schedule.

Training Resources: 

Watch the training videos by clicking the links below:
USPA Tournament Director Training 1: Tournament Setup and Registration Video – This session covers the process of creating a tournament, setting up Stripe for payments, adding administrators, and promoting your tournament for player registrations.

USPA Tournament Director Training 2: Tournament Management – This session covers managing the tournament, including creating draws, scheduling matches, communicating with competitors, and entering match scores. 

For the complete library of training and resources, Tournament Directors should visit here. On this page, TDs can use the search bar in the top right-hand corner, or the chat function in the bottom left-hand corner, as well as click “Submit a request” in the top right-hand corner if there are additional questions. 

For any other questions or issues, please email tduspa@worldpadelrating.com / eric@worldpadelrating.com. Technical questions or issues, please email tournamentdesksupport@clubspark.com.